12punto columnist Müyesser Yıldız reports from the courtroom: New development in the Necip Hablemitoğlu assassination case

Müyesser Yıldız - 12punto.com.tr

The trial regarding the assassination of academic and writer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necip Hablemitoğlu, who was murdered 22 years ago, continued.

The decision of non-prosecution (KYOK) issued by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the court's decision to investigate potential other suspects in the assassination was overturned by the Ankara 9th Criminal Judgeship of Peace.

This decision, which came as a result of an objection by Ersan Barkın, the lawyer for the Hablemitoğlu family, implies that the assassination may have been carried out by others, not the defendants currently on trial.

Lawyer Ersan Barkın requested that these individuals seen at the Migros store and the Eskişehir conference be identified immediately and that their connections to the defendants be investigated.

Following the overturning of the non-prosecution decision, the indictment and trial prosecutor requested a reasonable amount of time to conduct an investigation and submitted an opinion for the continuation of Nuri Gökhan Bozkır's detention.

BOZKIR: I WAS FRIENDS WITH COLANI

Bozkır, the only detained defendant in the case, while explaining his role in the MIT and the "onion trucks" incidents, said, "I was friends with the Syrian head of state Ahmed al-Shara, or Colani. They imprisoned me because of my friendship. Colani became the head of state, and I am serving a sentence as the person who sold them weapons."

Bozkır added, "The work I did for the interests of my country turned into a lawsuit against me."

Defense attorneys accused the indictment and trial prosecutor of ignoring footage that had been in the case file for years. Lawyer Ali Soykan compared the prospect of the newly identified suspects being investigated by this same prosecutor, whose "indictment is falling apart at the seams," to "entrusting the lamb to the wolf."

Eren Turan, the lawyer for defendant Tarkan Mumcuoğlu, also used the expression "unfortunately" regarding the same prosecutor investigating the newly identified suspects whose physical descriptions have been determined, stating that it is the court's duty to identify these individuals.

The afternoon session of the hearing began with the statements of Nuri Gökhan Bozkır's lawyers. Lawyer Emrah Yücel stated that this indictment is a betrayal of the cherished memory of the late Necip Hablemitoğlu and the Turkish nation.

Lawyer Hacer Ural, noting that the torture in Syria is now being discussed, said, "Forget the torture in Syria, look at Nuri Gökhan Bozkır. He saw more torture than what Assad did."

After the statements of the defendants and their lawyers were completed, the hearing was adjourned until 16:30 for a decision.

Announcing the interim decision, the Presiding Judge stated that it was decided to continue the detention of Nuri Gökhan Bozkır.

The judge also announced that a letter would be written to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for the identification of the suspicious individuals in the footage.

The hearing was adjourned until April 21.

EXPERT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE COURT IN JULY

In her column at 12punto yesterday (January 1), Yıldız recalled in her article titled "Who hid this footage and why?" that the expert report on the footage from the conference Hablemitoğlu gave in Eskişehir 4 days before he was killed and the footage from the Migros store had been submitted to the court in July.

The expert report stated that it was thought that three people were following Hablemitoğlu at the Migros store, and marked the "photos of suspicious individuals thought to show physical resemblance" to those who attended the conference in Eskişehir. The report also noted that detailed facial photos of the people at the Migros could not be obtained due to their distance from the camera.

Later, current photos and photos from the date of the assassination of the defendants on trial were obtained, and their resemblance to the people at the Migros and the Eskişehir conference was examined. In the report he submitted on October 17, the expert concluded that there was no resemblance between the defendants and those individuals.

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News Source: Müyesser Yıldız